While physical fitness plays a vital role in our health, it's only one piece of the puzzle. True wellbeing extends beyond our body, encompassing our emotions, and even our intimate self. Each part plays a crucial role in shaping your experience of life. That's where self-care comes in, empowering you to nurture your overall health. By actively tending to your physical, emotional, and sexual health, you can unlock a more fulfilled and balanced life.
We explore what self-care is, how you can utilise it in your every day life and how the self-care wheel can help guide you to make choices that align with who you are and your values.
What is self-care?
Self-care is activities that preserve and maintain your physical, emotional and mental health1. The best part about this is that no baseline formula must be followed for self-care, as it can be unique to you and can change over time to suit your needs.
It’s all about introducing and maintaining activities that make you feel good and that you feel good doing.
It’s not something that should be activated when your stress levels are too high (although some things can be introduced when you need them!), it’s all about an intentional way of living by your values, actions and attitudes and integrating them into your daily routines.
How can I introduce it into my daily life?
The best part about introducing daily routines is that you get to pick the one that’s likely to become a standard one before introducing more.
We’ve found a few ideas to get you started that focus on all aspects of your wellbeing 1.
Physical wellbeing
Some activities that can help your physical wellbeing include:
- Getting enough sleep
- Moving your body and introducing an exercise plan (such as walking for 30 minutes three times a week)
- Eating a balanced diet that includes more vegetables or fruits if you know you’re not eating enough currently based on current nutritional standards (5 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit a day2)
Emotional wellbeing
You can try and improve your emotional wellbeing by:
- Being self-aware and working on this with the help of friends and family
- Practicing mindful reflection through journalling or meditation
- Using gratitude to focus on the good things in your life
- Understanding that negative emotions are normal and can be worked through
- Recognising when you need additional support for managing your emotions when they become overwhelming
Sexual wellbeing
Introduce intimate self-love in your self-care routine by:
- Utilising quality vibrators and adult toys to enhance your experience
- Acknowledging that self-stimulation can promote the release of endorphins, leading to feelings of relaxation and stress reduction. This, in turn, can contribute to improved sleep quality and overall wellbeing. 3;
- Embracing the genuine connection with your body, promoting self-awareness and confidence Be kind to yourself, embrace your desires, and celebrate the beauty of self-love.
Your self-care routine may look different to someone else’s, but the important thing is that you work hard to improve all aspects of your wellbeing.
Shop our Sexual Wellness range
References
1 Life in Mind, A guide to self-care, accessed February 2 2024
2 Health Direct, A balanced diet, accessed February 2 2024
3 Sydney Morning Herald, The little known benefits of masturbation, accessed February 8 2024